My TBR for Read-India-Thon – Books I Picked For The Challenges

Updated on August 9, 2019 - This post may contain affiliate links which means I make a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. See the disclosure policy for more information.

Hello fellow bookworms, I am back with My TBR for Read-India-Thon. A little ahead of schedule, but I simply couldn’t contain the excitement or wait any more.

Which is why, without any further ado, let’s get right to the books, shall we?

My TBR for Read-India-Thon: The Indian Readathon

If you have read the introductory / sign up post for the readathon you know there are 3 reading challenges (and I’ll come to that in a bit). But when I first thought about this readathon, I hadn’t come up with these challenges (well, duh).

BUT I knew I wanted to read books that represent India in some way. Though this was proving to be a big challenge, because this was / is so subjective. So then I decided to pick 3 things (because my mind works in 3’s if you haven’t noticed 😄 ) that either scream India or that Indians are obsessed about.

To begin with I knew that one of the books I picked had to revolve around Indian myths / historical legends, so one pick had to come from that genre.

And then I decided to read books featuring the 2 main obsessions of the country – Cricket & Bollywood.

So that would be 3 books, one mythology / historical fiction, one book featuring cricket in some way, and one revolving around Bollywood in some manner.

The one additional restriction that I set for myself (which has nothing to do with this readathon) was that all these books (for me) would have to come from my own physical TBR – the books I already own, and haven’t yet read.

I simply wasn’t allowed to buy any books for this readathon. Mostly because it’s one of my goals to get through the books I own before I buy new ones this year. But also because, I really did not need more reasons to buy new books.

Which is why, once I decided on the broad theme – I raided my physical pile of books. And from there, I got these 3 books – Kartikeya – Indian Mythology / Historical Fiction; The Zoya Factor (Cricket); The Perils of Being Moderately Famous (Bollywood).

And I guess if it was just me reading during the week, I would have settled for reading these books.

But when I decided to host a readathon, I knew there had to be some reading challenges.

And also because as much as I love reading for the sake of reading, I love me a good challenge too, especially when it revolves around books and reading.

Which is why I came up with the 3 reading challenges I mentioned in the introductory / sign up post.

But since I did not tailor-make the reading challenges to fit my original TBR, I knew I had to pick more books to fit some of these challenges, and I did. Though I am working the original 3 in as well. You’ll see how.

But before that – since there has been a lot of confusion around this, I want to re-iterate that – These 3 reading challenges are NOT an All-Or-Nothing Deal. You can choose to do 1, 2 or all 3 challenges, totally up to you.

Doing more challenges will increase your odds of winning the giveaway, but you can choose to just do 1 challenge to participate & if lady luck shines on you, you might win the giveaway just with that one entry.

Especially because the giveaway is not a meritocracy, in the sense that the one with the most number of entries may not necessarily win. It will be a random drawing, so more entries will give you better odds, but not guarantee victory. In the same way that just one entry will not rule out your possibility of winning. 🙂

Books I Picked for the Reading Challenges of Read-India-Thon: The Indian Readathon

Challenge #1: Read A Book on or about India or by an Indian Author

So this is simple enough. I know any of the 3 books I originally picked would work for this. But just for the sake of picking a book I’ll pick Kartikeyafor this challenge, because that is one book I have had forever and really do need to get to.

Though technically this is true of The Zoya Factor too. Okay who am I kidding? This is true of most of my physical TBR staring indignantly at me from my unread bookshelf. But for now, let’s consider The Zoya Factor the backup for this challenge, okay?

Challenge #2: Read An Indian Book Under 24 Hours

So to be entirely honest, I have to admit I did consider cheating for this challenge. By reading a children’s book. Though that’s not really fair to say, because technically it’s not cheating at all.

Because the only requirement is to read an Indian book under 24 hours. So there is nothing wrong with reading a children’s book for this challenge, so long as it is on or about India or by an Indian author.

Which is why, if any of you are considering reading a children’s book for this category, please consider it fair game. Or might I recommend Matsya by Sundari Venkatraman? Uniquely Indian bhi, super quick bhi — win-win!!

As far as I am concerned, I am challenging myself here – so I’m going to try to read The Perils of Being Moderately Famous for this one. Not too long, with only 210 pages, and looks like it will be a relatively easy, fast read.

BUT this is one challenge I definitely need backup for. And my backup for this one is an Indian Mystery Thriller – Goan Chase. Only 110 pages, and it might be fun to read a mystery / thriller from start to finish in one day.

That being said, I understand that some days are just so crazy busy that even 100 odd pages might be a challenge to get through. In which case, a good audiobook might be the way to conquer this challenge.

And if that’s the route you want to take, might I suggest Bossypants by Tina Fey? The listening time is 5.30 hrs, which is doable in a day, especially if you are someone like me who listens at 1.5x speed.

I mean it will still take you 4hrs or so. Which is still a challenge, but doable, especially if you’ll be listening during commute and chores.

Challenge #3: Read A Book With the Indian Tri-Color on the Cover

I have to admit that this was the one challenge I was nervous about. Not because it would have been particularly challenging to find a book with the Indian tri-color on the cover. But because I had restricted myself to only picking the books from my unread physical TBR bookshelf for these challenges.

So I cannot even tell you how relieved I was to find this Indian romance by Falguni Kothari – The Bootie & The Beast lying on my bookshelf.

I believe this is getting re-released this Aug (everywhere except India), with a new cover and all. But thank the Lord I have the older copy with the older cover. Because I quite literally had nothing else on my physical TBR that would qualify. Phew.

AND NOW FOR SOME VERY IMPORTANT READATHON HOUSEKEEPING ANNOUNCEMENTS:

If you haven’t signed up for the readathon yet,this post is the place to sign up. You can only enter the readathon giveaway (which will be up on the blog soon) if you are signed up for the readathon.

The main readathon giveaway post will go live on the blog on Sunday, 11th August 2019 – the first day of the readathon. It will be the place to submit your challenge entries for the giveaway. But more on that in the giveaway post, coming up on Sunday.

All through Readathon Week (From Aug 11-17) – I will be posting updates on Instagram & Twitter (even on FB for those not on Instagram & Twitter) using the hashtag #ReadIndiaThon. You can use that too. I’d be checking that # and would love to see your reading updates / progress. 🙂

That’s all from my end, folks. I would love to hear from you guys. Have you picked out your books for the readathon? Which challenges would you be attempting to conquer?

Have you written a TBR post on your blog or even on social media? If yes, then please do share the link in the comment section! I would love to visit.

Or you could even share your book picks in the comments. It would really help others out who are looking for recommendations.

Oh and it would be especially helpful if you share recommendations for short reads that can be read under 24 hours or books that have the Indian tri-colour on the cover, in some way, shape or form. Because those are the 2 challenges most folks have had questions about.

I’ll see you again on Sunday, here on the blog, for the first day of the readathon. But until then, if you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment here or ping me on social media.

I got so excited after reading your post yesterday that I immediately raided my book piles and was thrilled to find several books there that fit all the three categories; so yeah will aim for all 3 and hope for the best.

I have also picked out a folk tales book and was going to ask you if that can be read for this as thought the tales are Indian the book is compiled by a Englishman – do let me know please for this.

You’re freaking me out. I haven’t picked out my books yet. I’m so envious that you get to read Zoya Factor. I wish I hadn’t read it already. That, and Soha’s book are good choices – though the latter was a bit of a damp squib. I haven’t read the third one. Hoping to get my choices sorted by day end today.Obsessivemom recently posted…5 ways to become a book lover #NationalBookLoversDay

I too will pick similar books but still not sorted them. Have narrowed down to a few books. Will post my TBR on the blog as well. It’s been neglected enough. Hope I can finish the readathon. My first coz it’s about India! What’s not to love 😄🇮🇳Inderpreet Uppal recently posted…Man Friday by Sundari Venkatraman

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Hi there! I am Shantala, Book-Nerd-In-Chief at Shanaya Tales, this book blog of mine, where I talk about books, my reading life & share new reviews & recommendations every single week, in addition to all the random bookish banter. Read More